Sunday, March 9, 2008

Rick Ufford-Chase, Interview #15


Real People, Real Lives, Real Spirituality...

Name: Rick Ufford-Chase
Where you live: Tucson, AZ


What you do as a vocation or avocation? Faith-Based activist - esp. peacemaking and immigrant's rights work
Your two favorite books: "The Kite Runner" blew me away. I read it two years ago but it haunts me. I haven't been able to make myself go see the movie. I also love "The Long Haul" which if Miles Horton's biography. It's a story on an amazing organizer of the twentieth century. I think it's a primer on the things to keep in mind if you want to change the world.

Your two favorite cd's: I just got turned on to an amazing Muslim Hip-Hop band from D.C. called Native Deen. I'm not normally a hip-hop fan, but these guys blew me out of the water. I also listen to David LaMotte - a good friend who is both an amazing guitarist/singer and also totally committed to the hard work of creating peace and justice.
Why you are interested in spirituality? I'm forty-three years old, and grappling with the realization that despite my best efforts, and the efforts of a strong faith-community - for the last twenty years, any objective look at the things I care most about leads to the obvious conclusion that things are getting far, far worse. Economic disparity that causes mass migrations of people, death of migrants in the desert who are trying to cross the border to find a future for their families, the level of right-wing xenaphobia, hate and viciousness against anyone who is "different", the never-ending war on terror, etc. etc. - it's all pretty discouraging stuff. For me, the bottom line is that I've got to stay grounded in who I'm called to be as a follower of the radical Jesus - the Prince of Peace. Even while I continue to struggle for justice everyday, I'm turning more and more to what it means to develop a practice of "sabbath keeping" that will help to ground me for the next forty years as I seek to live my faith, and work with others who are both Christian and of other faith traditions, who desire to work together to change the world.
Your favorite quote: "Try not to depend on hope, because unfulfilled hope leads to despair, and we have no need of a despairing people. Try instead to have faith." (Oscar Arnulfo Romero, martyred Bishop of El Salvador)

Your favorite web sites:
www.presbypeacefellowship.org (might as well plug my own stuff)

www.cpt.org (Christian Peacemaker Teams)



www.christianpeacewitness.org

Your hero? Lois Baker, 86 years old, who was just arrested in Washington DC for her nonviolent protest to end the war in Iraq.

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?Sabbath-keeping - something of the Jewish tradition of withdrawing entirely from the world once a week for twenty-four hours or so - no computer, no shopping, no meetings, no email, no tv, etc. (I've got a long way to go on this.)

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" The Green Mountains of Northern Vermont - our "family homestead."
Precarious Peace: God and Guatemala.(Video Recording Review): An article from: The Other Side

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Too many Presbyterians here! What is the world coming to?!?!? Jokes people, jokes!